I went to “the best art school in the country” for illustration and graduated in 2020 (more like I was kicked off campus at the very beginning of the pandemic.) I wasn’t able to get a job in illustration (which is a real kick in the balls) and now work retail selling perennial flowers to people for 10 hrs a day in the hot sun (Yay!).
Anyways, the head of career advising from my college came in the other day and was shocked when I asked him if he remembered me after I helped him find what he was looking for. His reaction was priceless. Gawfah meets stupefied. I don’t think he really understood how I could be there “with my elite education.” He asked me if I was still trying to make an illustration career work (which I obviously am) and after a painful conversation about how “the class of 2020 wasn’t given a chance” he told me, “don’t give up, keep trying!”
I am so sick of this “keep trying” horse shit. No shit I’m trying. I’m trying so god damn hard it’s becoming destructive to my mental health. I was left in debt, struggling, isolated after college. A whole economy and system of living crumbled as I was supposed to enter it, and the only advice I get is to “keep at it!”
if you’re in a position of power and someone asks you for advice, do better than “keep trying.”
And if you’re one of those people that think the pandemic is over, and that life is back to “normal” again, just know that many of us are still trying to pick up our pieces and put it back together.